Shelley Winters

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Shelley Winters (born August 18, 1920 as Shirley Font in East St. Louis , † January 14, 2006 in Beverly Hills ) was an American actress . For her roles in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and in Dreaming Lips (1965), she received an Oscar for best supporting actress .

life and work

Shelley Winters came from an Austrian-Jewish immigrant family. She initially had minor successes in comedies and musicals on Broadway , where she also became a member of the Actors Studio . She took on film roles from 1943, although her first screen appearances were mostly not mentioned in the credits. In the late 1940s she had her breakthrough in Hollywood with George Cukor's thriller A Double Life (1947), in which she fell victim to an insane actor (played by Ronald Colman ). At that time she also achieved fame on Broadway as Ado Annie in the successful musical Oklahoma! . This was followed by larger roles such as in the thriller Schrei der Großstadt (1948) alongside Victor Mature and alongside Alan Ladd in the literary film The Great Gatsby (1949). In 1950 she starred alongside James Stewart in Anthony Mann's critically acclaimed Western Winchester '73 . Her film studio Universal Pictures wanted to set up Winters as a "sex bomb", but early on she was particularly interested in character roles and did not shy away from unusual acting challenges.

In 1951 she embodied a factory worker seduced by Montgomery Clift in the award-winning melodrama Ein Platz in der Sonne . This role established her as a serious actress and earned her her first Oscar nomination. She then took on very different character roles, for example in the drama A Stranger Calls (1952) a singer who died in a plane crash, in the Western Saskachevan (1954) a woman suspected of murder and in the thriller The Night of the Hunter (1955) the naive one Widow of an executed murderer. Winters received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1959 for her portrayal of Auguste van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), directed by George Stevens . She donated the prize to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam , where it can still be seen today. She received a second Oscar for portraying a hard-hearted prostitute alongside Sidney Poitier in Dreaming Lips (1965). In addition to Winters, only Dianne Wiest received two Oscars for Best Supporting Actress . Despite her film success, she kept returning to the theater, for example in the world premiere of The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams or the musical Minnie's Boys .

Winters had other important film roles as the mother of the title character in Stanley Kubrick's film Lolita (1962) as well as alongside Michael Caine in the literary adaptation Der Verführer macht schön greetings (1966). In 1972 she was noticed in The Poseidon's Hell Voyage with an underwater scene, which she mostly mastered without a double . For this role, Winters earned a Golden Globe and the last of her four Oscar nominations. Later she was seen as a wicked adoptive mother in the Disney film Elliot, das Schmunzelmonster (1977), and she also played the wife of Martin Balsam in the Chuck Norris film Delta Force . She was also seen in numerous guest roles on US television, including a recurring role on the sitcom Roseanne . Her last appearance was in 1999 in the Italian film La Bomba .

Winters discovered and promoted Robert De Niro's talent as early as the 1960s . In 1967 she became the godmother of Laura Dern , who she also supported.

Private life

Shelley Winters was married four times, to Chicago salesman Mack Paul Mayer, actor Vittorio Gassman , actor Anthony Franciosa, and Gerry DeFord. She married the latter a few hours before her death after they had been a couple for 19 years. Her daughter Victoria was born from her marriage to Gassman. Shelley Winters published several autobiographies in which she passed on much-noticed information about show business. She also wrote about her relationships and affairs with William Holden , Sean Connery , Burt Lancaster , Errol Flynn and Marlon Brando . The actress passed away on 14 January 2006 at the age of 85 years at the rehabilitation center in Beverly Hills in heart failure after one on 14 October 2005 heart attack suffered. She found her final resting place in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City , California .

In 1975, as a guest on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show , Winters had a loud, and in the end even tangible, argument with Oliver Reed after he had uttered misogynistic statements.

Filmography (selection)

Awards (selection)

  • 1952: Oscar nomination for best leading actress for A Place in the Sun.
  • 1952: Golden Globe nomination for best leading actress (drama) for Ein Platz in der Sonne
  • 1960: Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for The Diary of Anne Frank
  • 1960: Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress for The Diary of Anne Frank
  • 1963: Golden Globe nomination for best actress (drama) for Lolita
  • 1963: Emmy Award for Best Guest Actress for Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater
  • 1966: Oscar for best supporting actress for dreaming lips
  • 1967: Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress for The Seducer sends greetings
  • 1972: Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Poseidon's Hell Ride
  • 1972: Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for Poseidon's Hell Ride
  • 1977: Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress for A Hair in the Soup

In addition, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her film work .

Web links

Commons : Shelley Winters  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ knerger.de: The grave of Shelley Winters
  2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyV3DlvKYmA
personal data
SURNAME Winters, Shelley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Scripture, Shirley
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH August 18, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH East St. Louis , Illinois , United States
DATE OF DEATH January 14, 2006
Place of death Beverly Hills , California , United States